Google Reviews Hit with Massive Spam

Google reviews, increasingly essential to the online search presence of brand and SMB brick-and-mortars alike, were hit by a massive spam attempt last week. At least 2 million fraudulent reviews were posted, according to ReviewFraud.org.

As shown in the image below, the fake reviews, four stars in this case, appeared under accounts with two-word, apocryphal-seeming names such as “Dashing Fencing” and “Seduce General.” Google is reportedly taking down the fake reviews.

This story comes at a time when ad fraud and changes to Google’s tools for brick-and-mortar businesses are both grabbing headlines.